Numbers
by mokamon
Summary: It was over. He had beaten the game. It was terrifying. Being in the game...but now that he had gotten out? Now that he had won the game? He sure as heck wished he didn't have to remeber it or the scores everyone got.
1. Chapter 1

_Hey! This is just a quicky I did a while ago and wanted to put it up, think of it as an apology for my taking so long for not updating Accidental Journey...I swear I'll get one up soon for those who actually care._

_Uhmm...this first chapter is like a review. I don;t know if that's okay with or not but whatever._

* * *

9 hours 9 person 9 doors (999).

It's a DS visual novel game. The basic of the story is this; [9 people] are kidnapped at midnight from there homes. [A man in a gas mask, wearing all black clothing] tells them in a distorted voice; 'Consider this a privilege. You have been chosen to play a game. The [Nonary Game]. It is a game...where you will put your life on the line. Let our game begin.' [Junpei, the main character] you play as, comes face-to-face with this [masked man]; meaning what? He's been [chosen to play the game]. After waking from a knock out gas the masked man, whose identity is only known as [Zero], must have used on Junpei to kidnap him, Junpei finds himself on a [ship with 8 other people] ranging in different ages, sexes, disabilities, connections, and personalities, all who have been chosen as well to play the Nonary game with Junpei. They realize they've only [9 hours] to find a door with a red painted —[9]— written on it, [before time runs out]. If they can get through the [9 door] while following all the rules in place (what game doesn't have rules that can't be broken?), they win. If they don't...they're sent to the bottom of the sea along with the ship...

Now being a visual novel game, you don't do a lot of actual action. You read, and read, and read. Once you're done that, you search a room looking for a way out by using the touch screen. You explore any room you can get into, be it a kitchen, a bedroom suite, a cargo bay, or even the captain's quarters. You don't get to walk all around the ship, making Junpei walk wherever you want him to go. You get choices at certain points, asking where you wish to go, depending on what you're doing. Although it is a bit of a bummer you don't do to much actual game play, the story and writing more then enough makes up for the lack of game play. You go where you need to when you need to and get out of rooms as fast as you can...well that's what it feels like for Junpei and his companions. Luckily for us, there isn't any actual time limit for anything to be done. Another lucky for us, is that any important word, name, number, or saying, is identified by the [square brackets around the subjects]. That was why I put them in the summary above, its part of the game. I'll also use them in the fic I've put in the next chapter, I'm hoping it'll give more depth to it.

If you don't want this terrific game spoiled AT ALL, please don't read any further because I will be talking about it and some of it's plot just within this review of sorts as well as the fic I've put in the next chapter. I've split the actual fic and this chapter apart because this is like a review I guess you could say... Still, both have EXTREME and mild spoilers; don't blame me now if you get the game ruined for you after you've read this warning. If you do, I'll laugh. Also, if you have an extremely weak stomach, please turn back. I've got some bloody descriptions here and I don't want anyone getting sick in my account.

9hours 9persons 9doors is an extremely gripping and heart tearing game; I've lost days of sleep just playing on it and crying over the story. Why? Because, as you may probably be able to tell, people die in this game. And it's not just your average death, like in ToS, where Dorr just falls to the ground and they say he's died; or in a movie where they just show the dying person slowly fading away, with a happy smile on their face in the arms of their love.

No.

No simple deaths, no heart warming ones. People die painful gruesome deaths.

Within the first ten minutes of game play, a man dies by exploding from a bomb inside of his body.

We don't see the explosion, nor do we see the destroyed body, nor do you see the look on the man's face as he realizes what is to become of him, or hear the screams that rip through his throat as he's about to explode.

Instead, you get to read about it.

It explains the disgusting smell of the blood and flesh on the walls, how his ribs are sticking out of what remains of his massacred body...every thing. This game really isn't for those with weak stomachs; for me, it was actually kind of hard reading it at times. I had to save the game wherever I may have been, turn off my DS and walk away for a few good hours to remind myself; IT'S JUST A GAME.

The way the characters interact with each other, with the situation they've been placed in and the time they have makes you sit at the edge of your seat, gripping the DS so tightly your knuckles are white and you're putting your DS in danger of snapping it to small bits.

Why is that? How can a game make you terrified to go to sleep with your back facing your bedroom door? How can it make you flinch at the sound of metal creaking...like a ship swaying in the water?

Well, simple really. You make decisions in this game. Which door to go through, which area to explore, which character to talk to, what Junpei, the main character, thinks and acts...

Also...within these decisions you can make mistakes.

You could be at fault for killing people.

Yes, yes, you're probably thinking 'This chic's gone off the deep end! You can't really kill these people in the game! It's just been programmed in... Get a life...' I agree, I have gone off the deep end; many times in fact. But the truth is this game seems so real, it feels like you're really there, like you are Junpei, living through this as him. The people you meet, that are trying to make it out alive with you, become real people.

It's like any other game you've played; you meet the characters, you become a fan of one and love them for who they are. You're shown their triumphs, their falls, their lives and who they are. You play as them through their adventure, sometimes feeling more like a tag-along rather then you actually being there with them.

That's where 999 takes it to the next level. Everything is explained. Everything. The sound of footsteps on the water flooded or blood covered floor, the clacking of keys on a keyboard, the ticking of a timer whispering to you the last few seconds of life you have... You read about how cold, and cruel a person's face looks while they hold another at gun point as they confess to killing numerous people you got to know within 9 hours...just so they can get off the boat alive, without being blamed for their past. You can see, from reading the story, the worry, confusion and terrifiedness on the faces of people as they look at a body, blood pouring from an axe wound on the body... You can feel the horrible bone shattering shivers that run up your spine as you find your way out...only to have it taken away with a mind blowing mind fuck.

This truly is an amazing game. Not only is it realistic, with all the character's thoughts and actions, but it's also placed in modern times...giving you more to connect with the characters. The few animations of doors opening and closing give it more realism, making you feel like you could reach out to the door as it slowly eats away the people waking through it. Although there is no Da Vinci artistic talent, the anime styled people in front of more life like backgrounds give it a nice look; and helps to remind you it's a game as well. And the music! Every track found within the game is perfectly fitted to the scene and situation you come across; headphones are an absolute mandatory item to play this game. The slow, tense and spine crawlingly creepy music and sounds you hear while you try to understand a knocking sound from a coffin will make you sleep deprived for days.

If you have the time, and you're at least 18, go to the closest EB games to you and get this game. And I'm serious; you have to be at least 18 to get this game. It's rated M for a reason; all the description done in the game is so horribly terrifying, it scares your god damned soul. It's so magnificently explained; one could expect as much from an Aksys game. If you aren't 18, maybe try to get a friend, parents, or older sibling to get it for you. That's what I did; I asked my brother for Christmas if he could get it. Luckily he was actually able to find it by taking an hour's drive to another cities EB games store to find it. He went through the last minute Christmas shopping hell to get this game for me and I couldn't tell him how much I'm grateful for him getting me this game if I tried. And I have, several times.

So, if you have a strong stomach, can stand reading for most the game instead of just playing when you need to escape a room, then get this game. You will not regret it.

Although, I guarantee you will be petrified of cruise ships for the rest of your life.

In the words of Zero...

Let our game begin.


	2. Junpei's nightmare

Numbers...

[Junpei didn't like math]. Never really had. Sure [he was good at it], he usually aced all his tests in high school and the exams in collage weren't too bad either. Calculators [weren't an absolute must] for him most the time, he just needed a moment to think, maybe a paper and something to write with [now and again]. No, it wasn't because he wasn't good at math, [not that he didn't understand the formulas or theories he was taught]. It wasn't anything like carrying a hatred for a teacher who taught the subject to the actual subject itself. Nothing as silly as that; and [Junpei knew silly]. He just...didn't like math.

No... That wasn't quite right, [it wasn't math that he hated]. He used to have loads of fun figuring out the equation; it was...it was like...like a...[a game to him]... People called him a bit of a nerd for it, always knowing just what to do for the tests. Of course, they always worshipped him when finals came though... He [didn't know where his knack for math had come from]; neither of his parents were exceptionally good at math, he had no tutor who showed him how to work the formulas. He just...[seemed to know math].

Some would call it a [hidden talent]... He saw it as a [curse and blessing] at the same time.

He didn't hate math. Although, after... [that game], he couldn't do any more maths. It would give him [horrible nightmares] on days he would go near any form of math. Why was that? How could a person be [so terrified of math]?

He wasn't terrified of math...it was...[the numbers in math].

Those numbers...they kept appearing in any math problem he was faced with. [0], [1], [2], [3], [4]...[5]...[6], [7], [8] and the last, most hated by Junpei...

[9]

Those numbers...they were really the [only numbers] out there since they made up every other number man had made.

And he [hated and feared] each and every one of them.

[Nine hours] to some people may seem like a long time. A person can do so much in nine hours; children go to school for [only six], adults work for usually [eight each week day].

For Junpei though? Nine hours...was barely enough time for him to [live].

When he was doing math, he remembered those short nine hours he spent on that [Titanic replica]...

He cried when he remembered those nine hours. [Dry sobs] would escape his broken lips; he had bitten them so much they were always sore. Junpei tried to hold in the [tears of fear and sorrow he still had held inside him]; no matter what though [he would fail at that]. The tears from his eyes would spill down his cheeks, soaking whatever shirt or sweater he had been wearing.

All the nightmares he had of the...[Nonary game] made him terrified to the extent of almost [killing his mother] when she woke him one morning. He couldn't live alone any more. Not in that small apartment he had [been taken from, forced to play the Nonary game]... No, he couldn't be by himself...not yet. After explaining to his parents, and crying to them for company...they couldn't leave him be. [Not even the cruelest, most unloving parents] could have denied the boy of the company he wanted - no [needed], in his life now. Junpei could not be taken on that game again; [never again].

[Akane], or [June] as everyone had called her while they played the game, had almost [moved in with Junpei] once they recovered from their experience. But Junpei realized that it could not ever work between them now. Every time he saw her...[he remembered]...

He remembered everything when he saw Akane. The [9th man's body]...all broken and destroyed. The smell of his [rotting flesh that slowly slid down the walls] where they had been thrown when the 9th man...exploded... He remembered the [blood freezing scream] the man let out just before he was blown across the room, [his body parts separating from him]. Junpei could almost see the [thick, dark red blood] that coated the walls, the floor, the ceiling and even the blood that had somehow stayed in the man's body, even after the [literally deadly explosion]. Junpei remembered when the man had [Clover] at [knife point], that sickening smile upon his face as he made [Ace] and Clover place their hands on the [RED], allowing him access into the [numbered door]... He remembered the look of pure terror on the dead man's face as he laid there in a lake - that could not be considered a puddle - of his own cooling blood.

His heart raced frantically when he heard any kind of [beeping noise]. Junpei had long since gotten rid of any watch or bracelet resembling item he owned. Anything that made a beeping noise was thrown out, or destroyed, [never to tick again]. Junpei would not be able to breathe when he heard the [tick...tick...tick...] of any clock. It made him think of the [81 seconds he had before he wound up like the 9th man]. Those few seconds were the most [dreadfully grim seconds] he had ever lived through. The red flashing skeleton head on the face of his [numbered bracelet] would haunt his dreams now and again, taunting him.

Junpei also couldn't be around any clock that rang when a [new hour] came around. He just...couldn't. When he was playing - [more so being tortured through] - the [Nonary game], every hour was called out by a large clock at the stair case. Every hour the clock would chime that they'd lost another hour, that they [were closer death]... It was almost as if the chimes weren't just telling the players how much time they had left...but [laughing at them for the time they'd lost]. Junpei wouldn't stand for those clocks. He knew his mind wouldn't be able to. He knew [he wouldn't be able to stay sane].

Nothing was the same for him anymore. Every time there was a loud bang, a crash of items, [he would scream]. Not a scream one would hear at the carnival, people on the rollercoaster's screaming in delight of the ride and the speed. No...Junpei's scream itself was enough to make a [person's teeth chatter], wondering what he was so deathly terrified of.

Many things had changed about Junpei when he escaped [alive] from the [Nonary game]. He was colder to people, he wouldn't trust them. How could he? The young man was scared, scared he would be forced to play the game a second time; [Snake] was forced to play again, why wouldn't they make Junpei?

The [Nonary game] didn't just change Junpei's way of life...it changed Junpei. Not for the better, but for the worse...

Junpei wasn't just a broken man now...he was destroyed.


End file.
